Current Statements of Position or Policy - Dental Education Curriculum

B-1 Predoctoral Training in a Hospital Setting (1973, revised 1992)

The American Student Dental Association supports clinical training within a hospital setting of an adequate duration or minimum percentage of total clinical training. Rotations of one week or greater should be encouraged, including training in hospital protocol and techniques of physical diagnosis related to the dental treatment of medically compromised patients.

The American Student Dental Association supports such involvement in the hospital setting as early as possible in the dental education curriculum. Hospital experiences should include, but not be limited to, rotations in allied medical specialties such as anesthesia, pediatrics, geriatrics, pathology, patient diagnosis, otolaryngology, and radiology/oncology.

B-2 Managed Care (revised 2012)

The American Student Dental Association encourages all U.S. CODA-accredited dental schools to provide education on managed care. This will help students make informed decisions about contractual agreements and preserve the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship.

B-3 Interdisciplinary Dental Education (1977)

The American Student Dental Association supports opportunities for interdisciplinary experience, through participation in a team health care delivery approach within the dental school clinical and didactic curriculum. One efficient method of offering such team experiences is through a more cooperative and reciprocal didactic and clinical approach among the various health professional schools within the given medical center.

B-4 Externships (1977, revised 1992)

The American Student Dental Association encourages the development of hospital, community health, and other externship experiences for dental students, and the formalization and awarding of credit for such experiences in each school's curriculum.

B-5 CPR Training (1992)

The American Student Dental Association supports successful completion of CPR training by students in accordance with the standards and guidelines of the American Heart Association, prior to patient treatment, and maintenance of successful completion of CPR status.

B-6 Domestic Abuse and Neglect (1993, revised 1994)

It is the position of the American Student Dental Association that dental students should recognize their legal and ethical responsibilities regarding the early detection and reporting of child, spousal, or elder abuse cases, and that ASDA strongly supports the incorporation of domestic abuse recognition courses in the existing curriculum.

The American Student Dental Association encourages all U.S. CODA-accredited dental schools to adopt extramural clinical rotations in underserved areas as part of their tuition based curriculum.

B-8 Dental Outreach Programs (2010, revised 2011, 2012)

Students in U.S. dental schools and predental programs who participate in a dental outreach program (e.g., international service trips, domestic service trips, volunteerism in underserved areas, etc.) are strongly encouraged:

To adhere to the ASDA Code of Ethics and the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct;

To be directly supervised by dentists licensed to practice in the United States or by faculty at a U.S. CODA-accredited dental school;

To perform only procedures for which the volunteer has received proper education and training.

B-9 Written Consent for Student-to-Student Injections (2012)

The American Student Dental Association supports the utilization of informed written consent and all appropriate safety measures by schools that employ student-to-student local anesthetic injection experiences and for schools to provide alternative learning opportunities for students who do not wish to participate in student-to-student local anesthetic injections.

B-10 Dental Assistant Utilization (2013)

The American Student Dental Association encourages all U.S. CODA-accredited dental schools to provide instruction on effective dental assistant utilization, including ergonomics training.